FBI: Shooter at Pensacola base coordinated with al-Qaida
By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say they have proven a link between the gunman in the deadly December attack at the Pensacola Naval Air Station and al-Qaida. The officials say the gunman, a Saudi Air Force officer, was meticulous in his planning and had been radicalized overseas for at least five years. The gunman killed three U.S. sailors before he was killed by a sheriff’s deputy during the rampage at a classroom building where he had been undergoing flight training. The FBI learned of the contacts between Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani and operatives of al-Qaida after breaking the encryption on cellphones that had previously been locked and that the shooter had tried to destroy.